[Rebellion Week]

A Creeping Tyranny

tyranny [n] - oppressive power [every form of tyranny over the mind of man -- Thomas Jefferson]; especially : oppressive power exerted by government [the tyranny of a police state].

I'm a little slow off the blocks this week, but I'd like to talk about tyranny and rebellion. I've been marinating in the Declaration of Independence's juice for a couple days, and I have become convinced that the GOP is engaged in an overt coup on American democracy. There is no way to to look at the facts and conclude otherwise. As to their intention, that's a more difficult question--but the effect has been to slowly dismantle rule by the people and place power in the hands of Republican apparatchiks.

Very briefly (we'll get into more later), they have:

• sought to subvert elections;
  
• vested power in the executive branch where possible, and where not possible, rigged the rules of Congress to eliminate interference from the opposition;
  
• packed the courts with judges who will toe the administration line;
  
• co-opted private industry by providing insider deals to the very companies that fund their re-elections;
• sought to remove individual citizen rights to investigate the government, and strengthened the rights of government to indict and detain citizens.

I don't actually imagine it's the intention of the GOP to seize absolute power. Rather, I think they are lulled by the robust strength of the Constitutional checks and balances--in their indolent greed, they figure they can seize a little power, line their pockets off the fat of their enemies, and cruise along until the inevitable tide sweeps them out of office. And on that score, I think they're right. At the end of the day, this is a pretty half-witted lot, and it's hard to imagine them having either the energy to mount a serious coup or the perspicacity to execute it.

But that doesn't mean they haven't done a lot of damage. So, taking the cue from our founders, who also confronted a lazy tyranny, I'll spend a week making my own, untidy declarations.